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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Now On the Cusp of Crazy Busy

This morning I attended my first parent-teacher conference. I heard glowing things about my "smiley boy" - his teacher said he's always happy and doing just wonderfully in daycare. She said he LOVES art time and when he sees them getting out the supplies he runs over to his easel. I got to see all his beautiful drawings and you can actually see the enthusiasm in the brush/marker/crayon strokes (they change mediums every day). She also described his huge smile, head bobs, and not-quite-on-the-beat hand claps during music time. He goes to sleep all by himself at nap time and is always the first one at the table for meals and snacks. She told me what they're working on in class and what we can work on at home (using our words and hand motions to express what we want, etc.)- all in all he's doing fantastic and it was fun to spend 20 minutes hearing about his happiness and advanced sharing skills.

Work has been really slow the past few days- I billed less than 5 hours every day last week. This morning I spent an undisclosed amount of time researching easels so Santa could bring one in his sleigh for Landon this Christmas. I also fake planned a ski trip we can't afford to actually take. And then of course, after days of doing nothing during a week when I was counting on doing just that, I get an email to join a conference call at 4:00 to discuss a new deal. Normally this would be fine, I'd just call JP and tell him to pick up Landon so that I could have the freedom to stay a little later than usual, but thanks to a microeconomics midterm that was not possible today. I didn't mention my time constraints before the call began because I was sure it would be over by 5:30- or maybe 6 at the very latest (daycare closes at 6:30, though Landon has never been picked up later than 5:45 and is usually picked up closer to 5:00). So the call kicks off and it's a crazy complicated venture capital deal and they want a term sheet by Friday, yes THIS Friday. I keep glancing at my wrist, watching the hands move to 6:00 and wondering if I'm going to have to resort to passing the partner a note explaining why the most junior person on the call is about to leave unannounced. But luckily, after a lot of squirming in my chair, the call ends, my initial role in the deal is explained, and I fly back to my office and out to the parking garage. I know that both the partner and senior associate would have been understanding, but it was important for me to hear this first explanation of what the client wants to accomplish in this (freaking crazy) deal and I'd like to keep the situations that require "understanding" to a minimum- especially since I'm going to have to leave by 6 every other day this week. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing some work at home after Landon goes to bed.

This transaction is going to be demanding and fun, with an added twist that almost made me laugh out loud during the call. There's a guy at the center of this deal who has the special skills and contacts that form the foundation of the whole venture, so a big part of our job will be drafting contractual language that forces him to use his best efforts to continue in this line of work and not take his talents elsewhere. As we're discussing the difficulties and nuances of the situation, the VC guy says: "Oh, and there's an additional element you should probably know about... [the guy] was a corporate lawyer for 15 years." To which our partner replied, "F*ck."

6 comments:

The deal sounds so exciting to throw yourself into! (especially after a slow week, it must be nice just to know you will have billables). Is there a neighbor or friend you can ask to be a back-up for JP this week if you need help? Since OF COURSE this is the week to have a busy and urgent project!

I love drafting term sheets. The documents themselves aren't as much fun, but term sheet is all about expressing the intent of the parties as clearly and succinctly as possible. It's a writing challenge more than a legal challenge in some ways.

Also, unsolicited advice from one corporate mommy lawyer to another - the end of the year usually ends up being SUPER crazy. I'm going to tell the partners I work for TODAY that I won't be in on Christmas day (baby's first Christmas). The sooner they know your boundaries, the better.

I have so been there with the staring at the watch praying for escape to pick the kids up on time. I am obsessive about never being late to get the kiddos and I've only been late twice--once because of traffic and once when I was interning with the DA's office and we were picking a jury. Dang defense attorney would not shut up and I couldn't get up and leave when all of the potential jurors were stuck listening to him.

I have to admit that's one of the big reasons I have a nanny (of course it's much more practical for me with 3 kiddos who are in school.) But it sounds like the little guy loves day care!

Welcome!

"Lag liv," imperfectly translated, means "law life" in Swedish. I'm half Swedish and I was in law school back when I wrote my first post in 2006, so Lag Liv I became and Lag Liv I still am!

Now I'm a full-time attorney, part-time barre teacher, and all-the-time wife and mom of three. We live a busy life in charming Fort Worth, Texas. You can read more about me and my cast of characters in the About Me and My Blog page. Happy reading and if you'd like to contact me, my email is lagliv [at] gmail [dot] com.